Home Sweet Sleep
Our overall health and well-being rely on sleep. Yet, for many people, sleep apnea not only prevents a good night’s sleep but also contributes to a range of serious health issues. If left undetected, the condition can put people at risk for everything from stroke to heart attacks. To diagnose sleep apnea, people traditionally need to undergo […]
App Gives Real-Time Updates from the NICU
Long before the Covid-19 pandemic, Craig Garfield, MD, and Young Lee, PhD, at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, developed an app to solve a common problem in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU): Parents often can’t be at the hospital 24/7, yet they need to stay up to date on their baby’s care. Merging electronic medical records […]
Liquid Biopsies May Help Identify Lung Cancer
You may be used to hearing about tissue biopsies, in which doctors snip samples of tissue to see if it’s cancerous. For some cancers, liquid biopsies may offer a less invasive approach. In a liquid biopsy, specialists test your blood, plasma, or urine for DNA sequences unique to specific cancers. Scientists from the University of Illinois College of Medicine […]
Using Artificial Intelligence to Assess Breast Cancer
Software that uses artificial intelligence (AI) may help improve breast cancer diagnosis. QuantX, developed in Chicago, uses AI to analyze breast MRIs. Radiologists can use the technology to help assess if breast lesions are cancerous. Research shows the technology led to a 39% reduction in missed cancers, according to a clinical trial. Maryellen Giger, PhD, […]
Treating Depression
From telehealth to magnetic stimulation, innovative therapies provide alternatives At the end of the 19th century, it wasn’t uncommon for those suffering from depression to spend a stint in a sanitarium. Never mind that it would have been framed that they’d “gone to visit relatives.” A century later, more than 16 million people in the […]
Stretchable Electronics for Stroke Rehabilitation
An innovative device worn on the throat offers exciting possibilities in the rehabilitation of stroke patients. The device, developed in the lab of Northwestern University professor John A. Rogers in conjunction with the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, allows patients to be monitored both while they are hospitalized and after they go home. The device’s position on […]
Technology Can Put Your Neck on the Line
Collectively, Americans check their smartphones over 8 billion times per day. And young adults age 18 to 24 send or receive an average of 109.5 text messages on a typical day. While this constant use of electronic devices may be great for keeping in touch and staying informed, it’s not great for the human body. […]
Encouraging Innovation in Technology that Helps Older Adults
Less than a decade ago, the field of aging was a sleepy sector of innovation. Now, with the recent rise of advances in medical technology, coupled with the surge of baby boomers, aging is ripe for innovation. An estimated 3.6 million Americans will turn 65 every year until 2029. That fact has awakened the market […]
Wearable Medicine
New devices tackle heart disease and diabetes Above photo: CardioMEMS pulmonary artery sensor. Courtesy of St. Jude Medical, Inc. A new era in medicine is emerging. Implanted body sensors can monitor critical indicators, dispense therapeutic doses of medication and alert patients and physicians to troubling changes—all in real time. This innovative technology is offering big promise in combating top causes of […]
Trending Physicians Take to Social Media
Repeated run-ins with insurance companies can infuriate David Rubin, MD. As chief of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the University of Chicago Medicine, he is invested in helping his patients with inflammatory bowel disease. So when insurance companies refuse to cover his patients’ medications, Rubin turns to an untraditional platform for physicians: Twitter. Last year, […]
‘Tech Neck’ yet another hazard of the electronic age
Source: University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health whatdoctorsknow.com When Mom nagged you to “sit up straight,” she likely had no idea how important that advice would become, thanks to our reliance on smartphones and tablets. One study suggests that the average person spends 2-4 hours every day on electronic devices. That’s thousands […]
On-Screen Doctors
Telemedicine delivers remote healthcare on demand By Karen Grimaldos Pamela Ziegler doesn’t have time to get sick. That’s why when this busy working mom from Bartlett started sneezing, coughing and wheezing, she tolerated the bothersome symptoms for a week, hoping that they might go away on their own. When they didn’t, she went online to […]
Health Apps and Wearables: The Next Stage
By Tom Mullaney We live in a time of technology disruption. Airbnb has revolutionized the rental markets model. Uber and Lyft have impacted the taxi industry, which, depending upon how you look at it, is either a good or a bad thing. Technology is similarly poised to disrupt healthcare. Healthcare has been slower than other […]
High Performers
Tech-savvy devices help with health and fitness By Megy Karydes Above photo courtesy of Athos Technology has the power to transform and even save lives. The latest health and fitness devices use state-of-the-art technology to help you get healthier faster than ever before, providing detailed data to fuel your efforts. Here are three pieces you’ll […]
Defying the Odds
Meniscal transplant breathes life into athletic hopes of 16-year-old Lake Forest resident. On a warm afternoon this past July, Chet Baker was startled by the sound of his 16-year-old daughter Kristen bounding down the stairs. That day marked just five months since she’d undergone a meniscal, or cartilage, transplant—three months too early for her to […]
Brain Power
More noninvasive technology really getting at brain tumors The brain is the home for so much of our central being: It’s the place that houses our thoughts and emotions, stores our dearest memories and controls all of our behavior. So what happens when this home is invaded by the likes of a cancerous tumor? According […]
